Everything Else
by Mango27
Summary: Shorts and such on Hiccup and Astrid's relationship over time. Rather fluffy :)
1. The Bundle Part 1

Hiccup was planning something.

He was on his way back to the shop, holding a bundle wrapped in brown cloth. It was raining, which was an advantage, as most people were huddled up inside with their fires going full-blast, and the town was almost empty. As he passed Snotlout's house, he noticed a lone Gronkle hiding in the shadows of the overhanging roof, pressed against the warmth of the walls with its eyes closed in bliss, sleeping despite the chatter coming from the window above its head.

Hiccup tightened the string around the bundle and tucked it further inside his vest, holding it firmly against his abdomen. He grinned quietly to himself when he thought of the expression on –

"Astrid!" he yelped, sliding in the mud and almost falling on his behind when the blonde appeared in front of him. She was wrapped up warmly in a large brown coat oiled with something that kept the raindrops from soaking in and instead sent them sliding down and dripping to the ground.

Astrid smiled in greeting, but her eyes almost instantly narrowed with suspicion at the object Hiccup was hastily trying to hide from her. "What are you holding?"  
"Holding? Nothing," Hiccup's eyes darted everywhere, avoiding Astrid's face. "Not a thing. Nothing at all."  
"Hiccup," Astrid warned. She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. "Show it to me."

It wasn't a request. It was a command.

"B-but it's not…" _Oh, gods. _Hiccup swallowed and almost smacked himself in the face. His lying was terrible. There had to be something he could do to distract her. He was about to comment feebly on the weather when she continued speaking.

"Why are you hiding things from me?" Astrid's eyes changed from demanding to hurt. "I thought you said you could tell me anything."  
"I said that?"  
"Yeah you said it. Last week. When you told me about the crush you used to have on Ruffnut when you were three, and the time you –"

"Okay, alright, gods, you're so demanding! I will show it to you."

Astrid smiled triumphantly and waited.

Hiccup paused, rain dripping from his hair and nose, and gathering on his eyelashes. He shouldn't be standing in the middle of it like that, but from his fifteen years living in Berk, he was just about used to it by now. He had caught every virus the village could hold, and besides, his immune system was starting to get better. All that flying around to other areas was doing him good.

"I will tell you," he continued, "tomorrow."

Astrid glared at him.

"Tomorrow, I promise!" Hiccup nodded. "Yeah. Because… it's a surprise. And it's not ready."  
For a moment, her eyes lit up. "Is it… for me?"

"Uh…" _darn, she was going to ruin this. _"No. No, but it… involves you. Partially. So…"

Again, Astrid's face fell, and Hiccup kicked himself. _Gods, now she was upset. _He hated it when she was upset. He did anything he could to keep her otherwise. Ever since the whole dragon thing last year, things between them had been a lot better than during childhood. She had a bit of a habit of kissing him on impulse, but there wasn't anything _serious _going on between them. They were friends. Good friends. And yes, he did like her. He had liked her since he was twelve.

"Uh, Astrid…" he rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, which unfortunately sent a cascade of cold raindrops down his spine, making him squirm uncomfortably.

"Yeah?" Astrid's tone was dull now, but she met his eyes nonetheless. He loved that about her. She was always looking people in the eye.

"Uh, will you… Do you want to meet me tomorrow? For a fly?"

That got her attention. There was nothing she loved better than flying, especially if it involved Hiccup. "Sure."

"Cool. I'll see you then. B-bye Astrid."  
Astrid smiled and disappeared into the rain, leaving Hiccup to let out a breath he had been holding for what seemed like a lifetime. He glanced down at the bundle and continued walking.

_That was close._


	2. The Bundle Part 2

Hiccup got back to his house and carefully unwrapped the bundle, letting out a breath when he saw that it was still intact. He had been working on it for two months now, and it was almost finished, but it would have been awful if Astrid had seen it before she was meant to.

He placed the object on the table. It was a pretty, intricate dragon's egg made of gleaming metals, soft silver metals that were easy to mould, with small gems decorating the surface. When Hiccup pressed a small button at the top, it split open like a lotus flower, revealing a small candle, which, when lit, broke through the gaps of the egg with its light, casting dragon-shaped shadows on the walls.

He almost blushed at how… delicate it was. Not at all something a typical Viking would be proud of making. Still, he hoped she would like it.

There was a snuffling from outside the window, and he reached behind him to flip the catch, allowing Toothless to push it open with his nose.

"Hey, Bud," Hiccup smiled.

Toothless grunted and tilted his head at the object on the table. He tried to lean in closer to sniff at it, but Hiccup blocked him. "Nope, sorry Bud. You'll break it if you touch it."

The dragon gave an impatient huff and resorted to staring intently at the object rather than touching it.

"Now that you've given it a good long look, would you mind?" Hiccup gently pushed Toothless's face back outside. "I've gotta get changed."  
The dragon gave a huff and obeyed.

The next morning, Hiccup was awake nice and early due to the cold puddle forming in his bed from the leaky roof above him. After many bad words and a long, uncomfortable hour fixing the roof, he was finally ready to go.

He tucked Astrid's present under his shirt once more and, once Toothless was finished with his disgusting-looking breakfast of raw fish, jumped on his back and flew him to his and Astrid's usual meeting spot, the cliff above the harbour.

Astrid was already waiting – sharpening her axe in boredom, which Hiccup always found both terrifying and awesome at the same time. Leaning more towards terrifying, but it was still cool. She looked up and smiled when he landed, and he raised an eyebrow.

"You did your hair different," he noted. Her usual thick braid was now two not-so-thick braids, which looked equally as beautiful to him as the original one did. Then again, even if Astrid grew feet out of her ears, he would still find her beautiful.

"Oh, yeah," Astrid's cheeks coloured as she glanced down at the braids, "I figured… I mean, is it alright?"  
"Alright? It's great!" Hiccup grinned. "I mean – well, yeah, uhhh… Anyway, this is for you."

Astrid tilted her head and stepped forward to receive the wrapped bundle Hiccup was holding out to her. "Wait, is this the thing you said wasn't for me?"  
"About that," Hiccup laughed uncomfortably, "it was always for you, but I didn't want you to see it when it wasn't finished. Uh, happy birthday."  
Astrid's face broke into a grin which made him catch his breath. She rarely smiled that grin, but when she did… Man.

"You remembered," she said, still smiling at the unopened gift.

"Well… Open it," he prompted. Now he was the one getting impatient over that thing.

She sensed this, and took her time unwrapping it, just to annoy him all the more. But when it was unwrapped, she stared at it in awed silence.

Hiccup began to ramble. "It's… I think it's a candle holder. There are dra – those are, on the sides, those are dragons. 'Cause, I mean, you like them. I mean, I think you like them. You seem to, s – anyway, that's beside the – it's really delicate so try not to – oh and that button thing, it –"

Astrid grabbed him by the shirt, pulled him towards her and cut him off with a kiss. When she finally pulled away, Hiccup noticed tears in her eyes.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. "I love it. Thank you."


	3. The Lake

**Sorry I've been so slack about this, guys :( to say sorry, I put lots of effort into this ^.^ hope you enjoy. And thank you for the reviews! :D From now on I'll be updating a lot more often.**

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Astrid threw a glance over her shoulder before jumping off a mossy rock deep in the forest. Up ahead, hopefully, there would be a nice pool of running water – that is, if the heavy rain they'd had that week had done its work. This was her favourite place to swim, but unfortunately it was dried up most of the year, or at least too shallow to swim in.

Trotting forward, she pushed the branch of a tree out of the way and grinned. The pool was deep and dark, and water ran in from two spots on the cliff above, and out through a small stream down the hill.

Astrid gave a contented sigh as she approached the lake. Its surface was untouched by ripples, and lay smooth as glass. When she swam here, she was completely alone. She'd told her friends she was going for a fly, so they wouldn't even have a reason to go looking for her, and no chance of finding her. Not that they'd want to go looking for her, anyway.

When she reached the rocks at the edge of the pool, Astrid took off her boots and tested the water with her toes. It was cool, but surprisingly not the bone-chilling freezing temperature of most of the water around Berk.

She carefully took off her gloves, furs and armour, leaving on her sleeveless brown top and leggings. After loosening her braid, she plunged into the water.

Astrid floated to the surface and smiled to herself. The water was perfect, she was alone and all was quiet. It was the perfect way to spend the morning – floating on her back with her eyes closed in the most beautiful place she'd ever been.

"Astrid!"

Astrid's eyes shot open and she squawked, sinking instantly under the water and accidentally gulping down a mouthful of water.

She came up coughing violently with strands of wet hair in her thunderous face and scanned the surroundings for the person who had ruined the sweet serenity.

Hiccup stood waving from the cliff above, grinning a goofy grin at her.

"Hiccup," Astrid warned loudly, pushing the hair from her face, "if you don't get out of here _right now _I swear I will _slice you apart!"_

She instantly felt bad for saying that. After all, he was her boyfriend, so she supposed he had a certain amount of share nice moments with her. Still, this was the only alone time she'd had for weeks! He could get lost.

Hiccup's beautiful seventeen-year-old face fell, and he tilted his head, causing strands of hair to fall in front of his eyes. Astrid's breath was snatched. Gods, he was getting _very _attractive… But that didn't excuse his intruding!

Hiccup noticed that tiny change in Astrid's face, even from way up on the cliff. He had recently discovered, much to his delight, that his looks were improving. He'd also recently found out that Astrid was well aware of this fact, and appreciated it, which pumped up his ego a lot more than Berk needed it to.

"Y'know what," Hiccup said thoughtfully, running a hand through his hair, "that water looks pretty good."

"Hiccuuup," Astrid whined, "leave me alone!"

"I think I just might join you," Hiccup continued, grinning.

"_Hiccup!"_

Ignoring Astrid's squawks, Hiccup threw off his boots and shirt and dove head-first into the pool, showering Astrid with water.

When Hiccup surfaced, his head was instantly shoved back underwater by his girlfriend, where she held him for a few moments to punish him. Finally, she let him back up, sputtering and coughing.

"Now we're even," Astrid said haughtily.

Hiccup grabbed her and kissed her quickly on the lips, then ducked away before she could hit him. "We're not even anymore," he laughed, swimming around her, "you'll have to kiss me, or I just won't leave."  
"That is _not _going to happen," Astrid snapped, her face red with anger.

"Then I guess I'm just _not _going to leave," Hiccup laughed wickedly at his own trick. He was brilliant.

"Why are you even down here, anyway?" Astrid demanded.

"Truth?"  
"Yes."  
"I came down to draw," Hiccup said, gesturing at the cliff where his little sketchpad lay. "I heard a splash and found you here."

"Well, you've had your fun," Astrid said, "you can leave now."  
Without replying, Hiccup began playing with Astrid's loose hair as it floated on the surface of the water. His hands found her bare shoulders and he ran his fingers over them, causing her to shiver.

"_Stop _it, Hiccup," Astrid growled, but he started to tickle her neck, and she dissolved into giggles. She eventually got a hold of herself and kicked him sharply in the leg. "Go away," she laughed.

"Ow," Hiccup complained, rubbing his leg, "why are you always so mean to me?"  
He was joking, but Astrid turned to face him and sighed. "Sorry."

She supposed she was pretty mean to him sometimes – but that's just how she was. She was blunt and a bit harsh a lot of the time, but she could also be one of the most caring people in Berk. If she felt like it, of course.

"It's okay," Hiccup smiled and forgot the pain in his leg. He took her face in his hands and gently kissed her forehead. When he didn't receive another injury from Astrid, he kissed her cheeks, and then her lips. After a while, she gave in and kissed him back.

Hiccup's arms snaked around her and he held her tightly against his bare chest, so that even if she wanted to, she couldn't get away.

When they finally broke the kiss, both a little breathless, Astrid grinned mischievously at Hiccup. "We're even. Will you go now?"

Hiccup just buried his face in her neck and shook his head. "Nope."

Astrid was secretly glad. No matter how proud she was, she had to admit she was enjoying spending time with him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.

"You're beautiful," Hiccup murmured lazily into her neck.

She laughed. "You're not too hideous yourself."

When the love-struck teenagers finally broke from their dizzying embrace, they spent the rest of the day swimming and playing together in the lake. By the time they got out, their fingers and toes were shrivelled from the water, but the sun was setting and the water was liquid gold. All in all, it had been a perfect day.


	4. A Stormy Night

Astrid rolled over irritably and kicked her blankets off her legs. It was one of those hot, humid nights they always had before a storm, and the weather had woken her up multiple times.

She could hear it trying to rain outside. Little bursts of drizzle would fall from the sky, and then stop. This was common, too, but usually during the day. She knew the real downpour would happen soon. Very soon. In fact…

A Gronkle gave a throaty squawk outside, and Astrid smiled to herself, despite her anger at being woken up.

"Three… Two…One," she said softly. She laughed triumphantly when a loud thunderclap broke out and the storm clouds erupted with rain.

She lay and listened to it hammering against the wooden roof, wishing fervently that there would be no leaks. She didn't feel like getting out of bed for any reason, let alone fixing a roof in the rain.

Lightning split the sky outside, and for a second, Astrid's room lit up with an eerie white-blue glow. There was silence for a moment until the ear-splitting crash of thunder followed, shaking the house and rattling everything inside.

Another bang followed, and Astrid frowned. She could have sworn there was no lightning before that one. She listened for a bit, and was about to ignore it, when a second crash followed.

Astrid growled to herself and sat up in bed to open her window. That stupid Gronkle… It always hung around her house, slamming into things and knocking things over. It was the clumsiest dragon she'd ever seen, and the worst part was that it didn't belong to anyone. It just hung around, annoying everyone.

She stuck her head outside to tell the Gronkle to shut up, but to her surprise, it was nowhere to be seen.

"What is _that?" _she asked herself, peering through the rain. There was something out there fumbling around awkwardly along the side of her house, but it wasn't a dragon.

The thing was getting closer, and soon, Astrid found herself gasping with shock as cold, wet hands scrabbled at her face.

Astrid pushed the hands away with a scream, just as another round of thunder went off. The person teetered backwards and slammed down into the mud.

"Hiccup?" Astrid yelped as the eighteen-year-old's sheepish face grinned up at her.

She stared at him in astonishment for a moment, before jumping out to help him. He thanked her through laughter as she dragged him to his feet, and then they both ran for the window, which they climbed through, landing on Astrid's bed with a thud.

In a tangled mess of muddy arms and legs, Astrid and Hiccup struggled to separate, while giggling childishly the entire time. Eventually, Hiccup freed himself from the clutches of his girlfriend, and was about to celebrate when he found himself unsupported and fell off her bed.

Astrid laughed loudly at him, knowing her family wouldn't hear anything with the storm raging outside. She stuck her head over the edge of the bed, and Hiccup wrinkled his nose at her with a cheeky smile.

"What are you doing?" Astrid finally asked, after regaining her composure.

"Oh, just, y'know," Hiccup folded his hands over his stomach and put on his best casual face, "lying around."

"You're soaked," his girlfriend frowned with concern. "You need to change, or you'll get sick."

Hiccup picked at his drenched tunic. "Do you have anything I can change into?"

"Yep," Astrid scrambled out of bed. "Remember last time you visited me?"

Hiccup smiled to himself. That had been fun.

"You left the majority of your clothes here," Astrid finished. She threw a balled-up bundle of clothes at him. "Change. Now."

He gave her a sly grin, gathered up his clothes and promptly stripped off his wet top without a shred of self-consciousness.

That was something Astrid appreciated about their relationship. They'd been together a few years now, and as a result, they were very comfortable around each other. When she thought back to the beginning of their relationship, and how awkward they'd both been, she almost laughed to herself.

A small blush spread over Astrid's cheeks, but she didn't look away. Instead, she watched closely as Hiccup's nicely toned chest muscles flexed each time he moved his arms. Wow. He was so attractive it almost hurt. When he turned, his back muscles moved in much the same way. Astrid decided she could, and willingly would, spend an entire day just watching this.

"What are you looking at?" Hiccup asked slyly, grinning at Astrid's enraptured face.

"You," Astrid replied simply.

Hiccup strolled over, cupped Astrid's face in his hands and gave her a long, deep kiss on the lips. Astrid hummed with appreciation into the kiss, and she felt Hiccup smile in response. He wrapped one arm around her waist and let the other hand rest on Astrid's thigh. When he stroked her warm skin teasingly a few times, she squeaked and pushed him away.

"No," Astrid laughed, pointing at him. "Not tonight."

Hiccup put on a pouting face, but his usual spark was still in his eyes. Humming to himself, he gathered up his wet clothes and made as if to leave through the window again.

"Uh, where do you think you're going?" Astrid demanded, blocking him.

"Nowhere," he replied. He dropped the clothes to the side and reached around her to close the window, before wrapping both arms around his girlfriend and squeezing her tightly. He planted small kisses all over her face and head, and then sighed into her hair. She sighed back, warm and content.

They spent a few long minutes just sitting together on the bed, wrapped tightly in each other's arms. Hiccup nuzzled his cold nose into Astrid's neck, and she giggled.

"Why are you really here?" Astrid asked, her lips moving against his ear and causing an avalanche of shivers down his spine.

"Well," Hiccup said slowly and thoughtfully. He lay down, pulling Astrid with him, and positioned her so she lay comfortably in his arms. "I was having trouble sleeping, because I had something I needed to tell you."

"What is it?"

Hiccup didn't reply, but traced his fingers up and down Astrid's arm, staring at it as if it were the most interesting thing he'd ever laid eyes on. Goosebumps broke out over her skin, but instead of waking her up, it began to make her sleepy.

"Hiccup? What did you want to tell m –" Astrid was interrupted with a long yawn. Hiccup yawned too, and they lay silent for a moment as sleep threatened to catch up with them.

"Well," Hiccup said eventually, barely audible, "We've been together for, what, a few years now. I dunno how many. And I was lying there tonight and I realised I hadn't told you."

"What?" Astrid whispered. She knew what he was going to say – or she hoped she knew – and although sleep was creeping up on her, she was determined to hear the words spoken.

Hiccup closed his eyes and, for a moment, fell asleep, but when Astrid heard his soft pre-snores, she gave him a sharp jab in the chest, and he yelped in pain.

"Hiccup," she warned, "what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh, I still haven't gotten around to that, have I?" Hiccup teased, smiling to himself. "Maybe I said it in my mind…"

Astrid pouted angrily at him, and he laughed and tightened his hold on her, burying his face in her neck.

Finally, after what seemed like a century to the tired Viking girl, Hiccup lifted his face so his lips rested against Astrid's ear and whispered softly, tenderly, with every ounce of sincerity in his heart, "I love you."

Astrid's eyes filled with tears. She turned to face Hiccup and kissed the tip of his nose, before giving him a soft punch. "I love you too, you idiot."

Hiccup let out a long, happy sigh and tightened his grip on Astrid so she lay pressed firmly against his warm chest. After exchanging a few sleepy kisses, the couple fell asleep in each other's arms with the sounds of a storm around them.


End file.
